RichmondA 4 - 4 Surbiton A

This league is certainly unpredictable. On paper the average grading of the team we fielded for this match was our lowest of the season due to clashes with another match and illness impacting three out of our top four. This fact, combined with the memory that Richmond had mown us down when we were close to full strength at our place, meant that I did not really expect anything out of this match. So I just told everyone to just enjoy themselves. Perhaps I need to try that approach more often (it may work better than team bananas). A half a match point was a major bonus from this match!

This was also the tale of the renaissance of our current and past team captains which was a bit overdue for both of us perhaps!

Board 1 was a very exciting affair in which Nick grabbed a couple of pawns in the opening but was behind in development as a result. At one point Nick’s queen was on e6, he had a pawn on e7 and his king was still sat there on e8, which look a little strange! It was clear that Nick and Michael were enjoying the game as now and again we heard whoops of laughter from them as Nick managed to keep afloat despite Michael’s attack. Eventually they declared peace due to repetition. Well played Nick.

Board 2 saw Stef face a very solid, classical, defence from John. Stef said that he found it hard going to generate winning chances against the set-up and agreed a relatively quick draw. Well played Stef.

On Board 3 Ian defended against a Maroczy bind type set up by James with two White pawns on e4 and c4 battening down the position. Ian did well to generate just enough counterplay on the queenside to hold the balance in a double rook ending. Well played Ian.

On Board 4 I trotted out a relatively innocuous opening (some would argue this applies to all my openings) against Richard. A couple of moves in advance I had spotted a rather beautiful tactical trap. It was not best play to go for the trap but it was irresistible. I got lucky as Richard did not see it coming and I ended up winning the exchange. I then managed to liquidate down to a clearly won ending.

On Board 5 Angus appeared to get a pretty tricky position out of the opening where he had a bad bishop and some weak centre squares. Angus fought hard but was ultimately unable to resist. Unlucky Angus.

Board 6 saw Rob playing against Chris. For a while it looked pretty even but eventually Chris ended up with rook, bishop and knight, which is a very potent force vs two rooks. Unlucky Rob.

Michael on Board 7 had an exciting game with Richard. I thought Michael looked a bit worse out of the opening as Richard seemed to have a good position in the centre but, as the game wore on, Michael came more into it. A knight ending with a passed pawn race on opposite flanks resulted. Down to their last minute or so they agreed a peace treaty which was probably a fair outcome. Well played Michael.

Board 8 saw the first appearance this season in Division 1 for former captain, Paul Durrant. Having spent most of the season telling me he was not playing well he had recently got on a good run of form just when we needed him most. Paul spent the first twenty-five minutes awaiting his opponent before Richmond inserted Seb as substitute. Paul soon built up a commanding position and won a piece by a neat tactic. His position then just got better and better….. Well played Paul.

Paul Shepherd 22 April 2011